A 31-year-old man is facing a murder charge after Minneapolis police say he killed one person and injured four others inside a residential mental health facility Monday morning, using a firewood log, a lamp post, a fork and a fire extinguisher as weapons. Derek Duane Faulkner allegedly told officers at the scene, “I think I killed someone,” according to charging documents.
Police responded to multiple 911 calls from the facility around 6:36 a.m. Monday, Sept. 28, according to FOX 9. Officers arriving at the scene found a man on the facility's second floor with significant lacerations and blunt-force injuries to his face. That victim was taken to HCMC, where he died shortly before 1 a.m. the next day, per the station's report.
Law enforcement identified four additional victims inside the residence, the outlet reports. One of them suffered a forehead cut that required stitches; charging documents do not detail the extent of the injuries suffered by the other three victims or whether they required medical treatment, per the same account.
Fork, Log and Lamp Post Named in Charges
According to the charges, Faulkner attacked victims with a firewood log, a lamp post, a fork and a fire extinguisher. A staff member told investigators that Faulkner put him in a choke hold and stabbed him in the arm with a fork. Another resident reportedly told investigators that Faulkner struck him with the firewood log while saying he was “going to kill people.”
A staff member also reported that Faulkner had attacked three people and was attacking another person with a fork, per the complaint described in the article, and that he was making threats to kill everyone. Faulkner allegedly struck a woman with the lamp post as well. Officers took him into custody at the facility.
Faulkner is now charged with one count of intentional second-degree murder and four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, the article notes. Under Minnesota law, a person who causes a death with intent to kill but without premeditation can face up to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder, according to the Minnesota Revisor's Office. Assault with a dangerous weapon carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine, per the Minnesota Revisor's Office.
More Than a Month of Escalating Incidents
Monday's attack was not an isolated event in Faulkner's recent history. On Aug. 25, he allegedly fired a rifle at a coworker at Faulkner Machine in Zimmerman, striking him with shrapnel in the arm, according to hometownsource.com. He was charged with attempted second-degree murder and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon over that incident and posted a $500,000 noncash bond on Aug. 28.
Four days later, on Aug. 29, Coon Rapids police were called to Mercy Hospital after staff reported that Faulkner, who was there receiving treatment for a head laceration and under a medical hold, was assaulting employees. The station's report states he allegedly punched a mental health coordinator twice in the chest, punched a nurse several times including once in the face, and attacked a security guard. Prosecutors charged him with four felony counts of fourth-degree assault over that incident.
Commitment Order Came Weeks Before Fatal Attack
A petition for judicial commitment involving Faulkner was filed Sept. 1, followed by an order for commitment on Sept. 15 — roughly two weeks before Monday's deadly attack at the residential facility. The evidence does not establish the final disposition of the earlier shooting case, the Mercy Hospital charges, or the commitment proceedings.
Charging documents also do not establish whether anyone else was present in the residence during the attack. Faulkner is currently held at the Hennepin County Jail and is scheduled to make his first appearance on the Hennepin County murder charge Wednesday afternoon. The case draws on criminal complaints filed in Anoka, Hennepin and Sherburne counties along with other court records, according to the outlet's reporting.
